The Never-Ending Night
by LuluSoBlue
Summary: It's not easy being an overlord, especially when your vassals go off on space pirate adventures without you. Laharl takes a vacation to spite his missing team, but things take an unexpected turn when he gets roped into being a demon princess's vassal. Axis has a throne to take, and a great overlord is a valuable asset to use against her fellow heirs.


So this is a rewrite of a fanfic I wrote a long time ago, _Endless Nights_. Well, it's a hopeful rewrite. Recently I wanted to finally get back into creative writing, and since I just got D2 I thought I'd go with the fanfic I loved writing the most.

This story will mostly be made up of OCs, Laharl and a couple of other canon characters aside. The story is similar to what I had planned out with a few changes here and there. I hope you enjoy it and I hope this isn't a fluke and I can write more in future. =)

Disclaimer: I do not own the Disgaea series nor any of the characters that originate from the franchise. The games and characters belong to Nippon Ichi. I only own my original characters featured here yadda yadda.

* * *

Prologue (Seven to Go)

Demons and angels are usually the way they are because of how their worlds are shaped. A demon world is a world with a 'heart' of darkness, just as an angelic world has a 'heart' of light. From that brief summary, you would presume that that means demon worlds are evil and angel worlds are good. Yeah, a lot of people make that presumption. Be careful with that train of thought.

Any world can be converted into a demonic/angelic world if the 'heart' of said world has been tainted by darkness or light. There are too many ways to do this to list here. You don't even have to know about worlds having 'hearts' to convert a world. You don't even have to be near it. The only thing about conversion that _is_ known for a fact is that when a world is changed, so too does its populace. Humans become demons or angels. The only way to undo the change is to restore the 'heart' to its previous form.

You might be wondering why it's always 'heart'. Well, we'd call it a _core_ if it actually _was_ the core. It's more of an arcane thing than a geographical thing. There's no consistency in how to find the 'heart' of a world as opposed to the core. You could open the door to your kitchen one morning and your world's 'heart' would just be there, then be gone if you close and open the door again. Your world's 'heart' could be your frying pan for all you know. Just mind you don't drop it.

A world's heart is important because it is the source of magic in that world. Should it be tainted, the world shall be transformed to reflect it. Should it be damaged, the world shall suffer to mirror it. Should it be destroyed, the world shall follow. Should its power be absorbed, all hell could break loose. That can be taken as a metaphor or literally, depending on how you _define_ hell.

Oh, and you really, really, _really_ don't want to know what happens when a world's heart dies _naturally_. It's _bad_.

* * *

Nine.

Tallis had been staring at the blackboard for what must have been an eternity. Nine sisters. Nine heirs. Nine potential overlords to a Prime Netherworld, one of the oldest and strongest demon worlds still standing. The things their father put them through.

The blackboard was five metres high and ten metres wide, framed by aged wood with beautiful and intricate carvings. It suited the room well, one large enough to be mistaken for a small library. In truth, it was only the Grand Witch's study, where she probably retired to at the end of the day. The books that weren't shelved were piled here and there, all covered in a thick coat of dust from centuries, maybe even millennia, of being unused. The furniture was covered in tarps and cloth, the only indicator that the castle's abandonment was not sudden. No-one had walked into this place for a time that only the walls knew.

Old magic was easily left behind for the sake of simpler routes. She'd learn it. It was bound to give her an edge.

Nine equal columns had taken up space on the blackboard, and in Tallis' elegant hand were the names of the nine princesses in chalk. Each had their own skills, their own combat preferences, likes, dislikes, tastes, strengths, weaknesses, allergies. Tallis had written all that she knew on the blackboard about every one of them, herself included. Tidy minds lead to tidy strategies.

From Minli's tactics to Rinne's lack thereof, Fioni's brains to Hayne's brawn, Seran's brutality to Coda's games of 'let's shoot this into the air and see which one of you it lands on'. (Tallis wasn't ashamed to admit the joy she would have given the chance to eliminate Coda herself. Those damned arrows landed on her one too many times for her to think it coincidence.)

If she had to guess who would go first, Tallis would put her HL on Minli. Minli was overly paranoid – justified, what with her weak constitution and frailty in general – and that paranoia was bound to cause a fatal slip in her backup plans and backups for backup plans and backups for said backups for backup plans. That and all you really had to do was bull rush her with a maul. She would be a good one to target first.

Now, if Daddy's Little Girl weren't sitting pretty at home Tallis would _definitely_ make her first –

"May I be of service, miss?"

Tallis nearly jumped out of her skin. Standing in the doorway was a very tall woman. There weren't many other things Tallis could distinguish thanks to the lack of lighting. She couldn't see any weapons, at least, but it wouldn't do to make assumptions. _Think think think, what would the others do?_

_Smash her!_ would be Rinne's approach, but there wasn't space for a strong enough summon. Minli's option of running away wasn't an option; the window was too far away and the only other exit was blocked. Tallis lacked the intimidation of Seran and a massive sword to just walk away. The Axis route it would be then.

Tallis folded her arms and held her head high. "Who are you? S-state your name immediately," she demanded. Thank the moon none of her sisters were actually here to offer critique.

There was a long moment of silence. Tallis began to consider risking the run for the window before the woman finally stepped forward. In the candlelight she looked deathly pale. Her features were sunken in and her white hair dry and brittle, yet there was some small sense of youth about her. The black dress she wore hung from her frame as though it no longer fit her, as did her white apron. It was hard to tell by the puffed sleeves and long skirt, but the loose bodice gave an idea of how thin she really was.

The maid curtsied from the other side of the desk. "I am Beatrix, miss."

Tallis let herself relax. "You're a ghoul."

"That is correct, miss."

"Well, what are you doing here?" Tallis moved her hand to her belt, where her spell book was strapped. Ghouls weren't too dangerous, but it didn't hurt to be prepared.

The maid straightened to look at her with dead, white eyes. "I am what remains of the castle's staff, miss. We were ordered by the Grand Witch to tend to the castle during the absence of her and her followers."

"And when was that exactly?"

"When the Grand Witch's forces went to march against Solaron."

Tallis was taken aback. The war against _that_ angel world had definitely happened more than a few millenia ago, and was known to be brutal even by a demon's standards. No wonder this castle was abandoned with such care; no-one was expecting to survive that march. "And what about the rest of the staff? Why are you the last?"

"The undead that served the Grand Witch's forces were ordered to accompany them on the march. As the Grand Witch's personal maid I was required to remain here."

"So you aren't trained for war? That's why they left you here?"

"I did not state that, miss."

She tightened her grip on her spell book. The maid was still as stone, but the tone of her voice had changed. It was ice cold. "So am I trespassing? I already checked this place and I am more than certain that no-one's lived here for a long time."

"My apologies, miss, but I am sworn to eliminate all trespassers. Do you have the key of the Grand Witch in your possession?"

Tallis stepped back. "No, I don't. Sorry."

"I see. Pray forgive me for what I must do, miss."

The maid began to walk the desk. Tallis dived around to put it between them and made a gesture towards it. _"Furnitura Flinggio!"_ The desk shook violently before it flew off the floor and slammed into the maid. Wood cracked and splintered and books, papers and stationary flew everywhere with the remains as Tallis got back to her feet. The maid hadn't stopped. The desk had shattered against her like it was nothing but a water balloon. Tallis made a dash for the door as she casted another spell. _"Burni Blisterus Barricadio!"_ She made another dive through the doorway before a wall of fire rose between her and her pursuer. She didn't stop running. There was no way she'd wait around to see if fire was just as useless as brute force.

_I should have been more thorough. How didn't I run into her before?!_ Tallis pull her skirts up with her free hand as made her way through the twists and turns of the castle. She had to get out of here. No way would she risk facing a ghoul that personally served a long dead Grand Witch. Undead where tough to beat as they were and if there was only servant left to guard the castle from intruders there had to be a damn good reason why it was a ghoul. Enchantments, curses, and who-knows how many other spells could have made a maid stronger than any overlord for all Tallis knew of ancient magic.

It took a while for her to realise she was running around in circles. She had passed the same torn up painting four times and the same collapsed doorframe seven times, even though she had been making all of the turns that should have lead back to the main entrance hall. "Crap. _Reveal_." The world around Tallis glowed bright and orange, and she saw the problem. Of _course_ this castle was enchanted. The corridors, tunnels, passages, doors, they were all treated with a labyrinth enchantment; the auras of rooms kept changing places before her eyes. She could see the aura of the maid here and there, and then she was in the next room. She was approaching one of the doors nearby, but the rooms shifted again in time. This had to be some kind of defence against intruders. _Like me._

_CRRRAAACK!_

Tallis swung around in time to see a pair of doors two rooms back give way before they moved elsewhere. Unless the maid had lost her keys (unlikely because how else would she gets around this castle?) Tallis had another thing to worry about. She muttered an incantation into her hand and a sphere of fizzing energy formed in her palm. "Find the front door and hurry." The seeker flitted about the hallway while another loud crack sounded somewhere to Tallis' left, and once it found a way it disappeared through a single door. Tallis disarmed her sight spell and followed quickly.

A few doors later the seeker fizzled out, and Tallis found herself in the entrance hall once more. It was big and grand, or at least as grand as tattered banners and ruined rugs could be. She started to descend the staircase when something fell on the floor below. She stopped dead and looked to the ceiling where chunks of it were crumbling apart.

_Please don't be the maid, please don't be the maid._

A patch in the ceiling fell through, and a blur of red plummeted down to the floor. The tremors shook the whole hall and Tallis had to grab the railing to stay standing. She knew who it was before that horrid cackle of triumph echoed in her ears.

_I take it back, send the maid._

The dust from the hall's new crater was clearing just as the girl strode out of the rubble. She was wearing a loose kimono top and short shorts, and like always her wild red hair was barely held back in a messy bun. Her wooden sandals clacked on the hard floor, though they were hard to hear over the screech that her massive battleaxe made as she dragged it behind her.

Tallis stood upright and glared down at her sister. "Rinne."

"You _had_ to come hide _here_, didn't ya?" Rinne laughed again as she swung her axe up to rest on her shoulder. "Don't matter if you got some dumbass maze mumbo jumbo, can't keep ya safe from this baby."

_No way out. I need to get her angry._

"I'm shocked you managed to find me at all. You're not one for discretion." Tallis pulled her spell book from her belt. "A dragon in a bird's nest is a lot sneakier than _you_."

"**** you," Rinne growled, taking a large stomp forward. "I got the jump on _you_ didn't I, little miss bookworm?"

"Ouch. You are a _master_ of burns."

"Shut the hell up. Now are we doing this the easy way or the hard way?!" Rinne pointed her axe in Tallis' direction with the one arm. "Easy is I kill you. Hard is I kill you so that it really ****ing hurts like ****." She smirked. "So what'll it be, Tallis?"

_Keep pressing her. She gets foul when she's angry and _stupid_ when she's _really_ angry._

"How about the realistic way?" Tallis opened her spell book. She felt the magic pour out and swirl around her as said, smiling, "I fry your ass to the moon and back until you beg me to end your sorry little life, just like the _scared little girl_ you are."

Rinne tensed. "What. The ****. Did you _call_ _me_?"

_Three metres ahead, right in her path._ "There's no shame in admitting you're afraid, Rinne." _Move back, strike where she lands._ "I won't judge. You're about to _die_ after all."

That pushed her button. Rinne gripped her axe tight and charged straight for Tallis. "YOU SMUG LITTLE -"

_BOOM!_

A rune circle lit up beneath Rinne's foot, then exploded in her face. Rinne was sent flying up, roaring, while Tallis readied another spell. Rinne spun around in the air and held her axe over her head, ready to bring it down. Tallis waited until the last moment and dodged forward, shouting, "Mega Fire!"

"STAY STILL!" Rinne slammed her axe into the flaming spot and vaulted away from it. Tallis slowly backed down the stairs, flicking through the pages to find the right –

_Fwwt!_

She felt the air move at the back of her neck. She looked behind to see some strands of her bright orange hair fall to the ruined carpet of the steps below. Tallis looked around and spotted the maid on one of the landings. She had found a bow on her way here, and she was pulling another arrow aimed at Tallis again.

"Not now! _Shield_!" The air rippled around her just as the maid loosed her arrow. Tallis braced herself and prayed the shield was strong enough.

_THWACK!_

The arrow hissed through the air where Tallis _had_ been standing, but by then she was on the cold stone floor below. A second late on that spell and she would have ended up in two pieces; Rinne's axehead had cracked her shield and sent her flying over the rail. Tallis could tell from the sting on her belly that she was going to have a very bothersome bruise if she lived through this. Maybe a ruptured vital organ or two, but what use were they anyway?

"NO ****ING WAY! _My_ sister, _my_ kill!"

"My apologies, miss, but I am sworn to eliminate all trespassers. Do you have the key of the Grand Witch in your possession?"

"The hell are you talking about?!"

"You are both trespassing on my lady's property, therefore I am inclined to eliminate you."

Tallis fumbled about for her spell book and shakily got back on her feet. Great, now she had her sister to kill _and_ the ghoul to worry about.

"Don't get involved, you scrawny piece of fetish fuel! I ain't leaving 'til I get my kill!"

"I must not shirk my duties to my lady. Pray forgive me for what I must do, miss."

"Piss _off_!" Carefully, Tallis walked along the side of the staircase, trying to keep out of sight. Sure, it wasn't hiding, but at least she wouldn't get an arrow through her chest. When the handrail reached her height, she took a quick peek through the balusters. The maid was now aiming right at Rinne, while the latter was fuming. "I've got seven more losers to deal with so there's no way I'm letting a piece of **** like _you_ get in my way!"

The maid fire, but Rinne moved her axe just a little and the blade split the bolt in two. Both halves swished past either side of Rinne's head. She raised her axe, and Tallis saw swirls of red smoke from her sister's skin. She eased down the wall of the staircase and braced herself.

"_Titan QUAKE_!"

Tallis covered her ears and muttered a muffle spell to surround her head. Even that didn't feel like enough. The full force of the axe's impact rumbled in her ears as loud as the ringing caused by Rinne's yell. Thankfully, the spell did muffle the complete destruction her special was causing. She felt the debris come crashing down through the floor, and her teeth chattered from the aftershock that justified the special's name.

It felt like hours until the quaking stopped. Tallis didn't dare stand back up, but she dared to crawl along and peer back through the balusters. Rinne stood there as before, but the maid was gone. As was the landing with her. And the long hallway behind the door she had come through. And several walls in the surrounding area. All that was left of it all was the massive pile of stone, marble and rubble on the other side of the entrance hall . Tallis was surprised the special hadn't just blown a whole all the way through the castle from here.

Rinne took in several deep breaths, still smoking, and turned to where Tallis had landed earlier. Their eyes met between the railing, and Rinne readied her axe again. "Now it's your tu -"

"_Banistra Barragio_!" Tallis jumped back and flung her hand up. The railing shook before her, cracked and broke from the stairs and shot towards Rinne. They bashed into her one by one, and although Rinne got to smash some of them with her axe she couldn't stop all of them as the balusters and railing ascending broke and followed suite. She stumbled back, swinging at the marble, and Tallis saw her chance. "_Durian Dragon Dranyago_! Dragon, aid me!"

The ground began to shake again. Tallis pointed at the spot right before the huge double doors that lead out of the castle. A large rune circle formed on the floor, and from it a great dragon, consumed by orange flame, pulled itself from the portal. By the time Rinne had smashed what was left of the marble barrage, the dragon had Tallis safe in its claws. She gazed down at her sister, smiling.

"Not. ****ing. FAIR," Rinne growled, crushing a piece of rubble to dust beneath her foot.

Tallis tut-tutted. "Now, Rinne, don't be a sore loser. You play to your strengths, I play to mine. Isn't that how all of this is meant to be done?"

"How is hiding behind a huge-ass dragon like a ****ing coward a strength?!" The red wisps were back, and this time Rinne was practically glowing red. Maybe literally, but it was hard for Tallis to tell from her dragon's own glow. "You're weak. You and Coda and Minli and Axis, you're all weak as ****. If any of you had the guts to pick up a real weapon once in a ****ing while you might actually have a moon's chance at being overlord!"

__I can do this. I can survive her.__

The dragon let out a low rumble as flames licked out through its teeth. Tallis patted one of its claws and took a deep breath. "Maybe if you had been a little smarter and washed out that mouth of yours, you might have had a chance too. May the red moon take you soon."

"**** off."

Rinne's axe shone with a menacing red light. She began to charge. The dragon reared its head. Tallis closed her eyes and focused on sharing as much magic as she could with her summon. Rinne leaped from the ground and hurtled towards Tallis.

"_TITAN QUAKE_!"

Tallis opened her eyes. "_Rune INFERNO_!"

The dragon let loose its power, its fire forming shapes and symbols and patterns and pictures. The burning runes bound themselves to Rinne's body as she flew through the air. It didn't stop her. What it did was throw her off target, and her axe came down on the dragon's arm. Tallis felt herself falling, heard the dragon rage from pain, and then her magic came back to her. Then she only saw white.

* * *

When Tallis came to, her dragon was gone. She was dazed and tired so the first thing she thought of was how she would apologise to him later; an abrupt send off from a summoning like that hurt like hell all over again, according to him anyway. She sat up and looked around. Then she saw Rinne.

Her hair had come loose and was all over the place. Her clothes were charred with the runes of Tallis' own special. And the biggest relief washed over Tallis when she noticed how sluggish and limp Rinne was while trying to stand. She shook and she trembled, trying to use her axe as a support to stand, but no matter how hard she tried she kept slipping back down to the ruined ground. Her skin was still burning with the same runes on her clothes and her breathing was ragged and pained.

Tallis crawled over to where her spell book lay open and held it in her trembling hands. What now? What spell to finish her off? She needed one that guaranteed Rinne's death, otherwise she'd have a chance to –

"Oh for… moon's sake… just ****ing _do it_." Tallis jumped up and faced Rinne. She hadn't moved at all. She was looking up at her through the red messy hair that hang in front of her face. She looked as tired as Tallis, maybe more so. But she mostly looked really pissed off. "Don't… waste my… time. If you're gonna… gonna finish it, then… th-then prove me wrong, you… coward."

She hesitated. For the longest moment she was stuck in a stunned silence, her eyes locked with her sister's. Her sister, who she had broken down. Her sister, who she had to kill. Tallis raised a hand and, smiling, prepared the final blow.

_I don't believe it. I actually won. Against _Rinne_ of them all. And it's my first –_

"_Fury NEEDLES_!"

Tallis' hand tensed and the magic was gone. She could see Rinne being struck by several points of eerie green energy. Funny. The look on Rinne's face. Tallis felt like that now. Like something had poked holes in her too. And that's when the world went sideways.

A pair of boots walked past her head. A girl with long green pigtails, so long they brushed along the floor, walked up to Rinne and her axe. Rinne looked up at the girl. She was shocked. Then she wasn't. She let out one last, amused cackle.

"Axis… you ****ing camper…"

The girl raised her staff. "Yep." And she sunk the bladed end of her staff into Rinne's chest. There was a scream, but Tallis didn't think anyone in the room made it. Red lights shot up from one sister's body and into the other, and then there was only the girl.

Axis spun on her heel and walked towards Tallis. "Y'knooow, for all you bragged about tactics and all, you didn't really plan that far ahead either."

There was movement behind her. With stones and dust still falling off of her, the maid walked out from behind the wreck. She had her bow in hand and was looking straight at Axis.

_Please, stop her! Don't let me lose to Axis! Anyone else! I'll even let Coda kill me, just not to this brat! I'll never live it down in any life after this!_

"My apologies, miss, but I am sworn to eliminate all trespassers. Do you have the key of the Grand Witch in your possession?"

Axis looked offended. She faced the maid with a glare. "What, do you _honestly_ think I'd forget the key to _my_ castle?" Tallis couldn't see from the floor, but whatever Axis held out for the maid to see satisfied her. The maid dropped her bow and took a curtsy.

"Welcome. Do you wish me to continue my service to the castle, my lady?"

"Hmph. That's better. Since you learn your place so quick, I _guess_ you can be of service. Might as well. There's a bunch of prinnies outside that need to pull their weight. Vassal, get this mess cleaned up. And no slacking!"

"At once, my lady."

Axis turned back to look down on Tallis. "See, if you were _really_ meant to have this castle, you'd have thought of getting the key _first_. Great minds think alike, sis." She pointed the end of her staff at Tallis' chest. "Greater minds _win_."


End file.
